363 Jailed Journalists Worldwide Reaches High Record

VIVA – Criminalization of journalism is increasing around worldwide with a record 363 journalists jailed for doing their jobs, according to a report by a New York-based journalism advocacy group on Wednesday, December 14, 2022.

The report said that Iran was one of the countries that imprisoned the most journalists, 62 out of a total of 363 people.

The total number of journalists jailed on December 1 increased by about 20 percent from last year's record high, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The latest figure is the highest since comparable data became available in the first half of the 1990s.

Iran, China, Myanmar, Turkey, and Belarus are each of the top five countries that have imprisoned the most journalists this year, according to the report.

"Authoritarian governments are stepping up oppressive efforts to silence the media, trying to mask growing discontent in a world plagued by COVID-19 and the economic fallout from the Russian and Ukrainian wars," the report said.

In Iran, 49 of 62 journalists have been arrested since mass protests began in September over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who was arrested after allegedly not complying with the country's legal requirement to wear a headscarf, according to the group's report.

The nongovernmental organization said the number of female journalists detained reached "unprecedented" levels this year and listed 24 names of female journalists in its latest report on journalist imprisonment.

The group ranked China as the second worst country this year with 43 journalists imprisoned, down from 48 in last year's report which was the most in the world.

Moreover, China's censorship of the media and surveillance of its people has made trying to research the exact number of imprisoned journalists in the country "extremely difficult", the report said.

In Myanmar, imprisoned journalists increased to at least 42 from 30 last year. Nearly half of the journalists sentenced to prison in 2022 were prosecuted under anti-state laws penalizing acts of "sedition" and "fake news".

Russia's new restrictive laws to control the narrative over the war in Ukraine have eroded the country's remaining independent media, the report said.

The report also noted that 19 journalists were detained in Russia and some of them face prison sentences of up to 10 years on charges of spreading "fake news".

Other countries known to imprison journalists for carrying out their work include Vietnam, India, Eritrea, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Guatemala, Cuba, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Georgia.